EQT adds Goldman MD as new partner on core fund – exclusive

EQT has appointed Kunal Koya, managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, as a new partner for its core infrastructure strategy, Infrastructure Investor has learned.

London-based Koya will join the Stockholm-headquartered firm later this summer, a source told Infrastructure Investor, ending a tenure of 11 years at Goldman Sachs. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 2013, he was a vice-president in the infrastructure and utilities unit of advisory firm Evercore. He sat on the boards of Goldman portfolio companies such as UK smart metering group Calisen, Swedish modular building group Adapteo and Dutch bulk services company HES International.

Koya will be focused on EQT’s Active Core Infrastructure fund, the strategy launched in early 2022 and led by the New York-based Alex Greenbaum, who joined the firm in March 2022 from Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC. In addition to Greenbaum and Koyal, the fund has two other partners – Munich-based Fabian Grone and Stockholm-based Daniel Perez – both of whom have been with EQT since 2008. Saumil Agrawal, formerly a managing director at Blackstone, also joined as managing director in May.

The 25-year Active Core Infrastructure fund, targeting €5 billion, has made two of its three investments to date in Europe. In April, it agreed a deal to buy French smart water and heating company Ocea Group from ICG, having previously invested in German renewables developer Tion Renewables and the take-private of New York-listed towers group Radius Global Infrastructure alongside PSP investments, a deal worth $3 billion.

EQT cautioned in its Q3 2023 earnings call that Active Core Infrastructure may not reach its target size, with the total capital raised by the fund at the time said to be between €2.5 billion and €3 billion, according to head of business development Gustav Segerberg, who also said at the time that the vehicle will be closed in the first half of 2024.

“[Funds] including EQT Future, EQT Active Core Infra, and the two EQT Exeter funds, are generally slower to raise, especially those that are in the lower risk return segment and some of these strategies may not reach their full target sizes,” Segerberg said in the October call.

EQT’s higher-returning flagship – EQT Infrastructure VI – had reached €15.1 billion, according to EQT’s Q1 2024 earnings report. The vehicle is targeting €20 billion.